Hans Zimmer Working On Crysis 2 OST

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EA have just announced that the Crysis 2 score has been worked on by Hans Zimmer. Er, actually, let’s start again. Open this page in another window, and then press the button at the same time as you read that. Done? See, that’s why this is worth a post. Zimmer, who’s behind the excellent scores of Inception, Dark Knight and Renaissance Man, has also worked on, oh, Modern Warfare 2. Did that have music? Quite how involved he really is becomes a little more confusing when you read the press release.

According to EA,

“Zimmer and his team featuring Lorne Balfe worked with the existing composers Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu to create the intense and dramatic score for Crysis 2.”

I mean, he could have made the tea. But Zimmer has reported his interest in the project, saying,

“I was drawn to Crysis 2 because of Crytek’s passion for the project and the world they created. And I am very happy with the outcome of our collaboration.”

(The “Will this do?” is silent.)

The game comes out on the 25th, at which point we’ll be able to figure out if he’s right. Meanwhile, here’s a trailer about how you can go fast.

More “I saw this thing on the internet. There’s no way that anyone else on the internet could possibly have ssen that. I ust share said thing. Then epeople will love and respect me and i’ll probably win some sinternet points. Hooray for internet points. Whatever they are.”

Oh, I know who he is, which is exactly why he’s doing this for money. It’s like getting Patrick Stewart or Liam Neeson to voice characters in your game – they’re not doing it because they were drawn to Bethesda’s passion for the project. Not that I’m saying Zimmer would turn in a performance anywhere near as disinterested as those two; his score for Modern Warfare 2 was pretty good. Or at least pretty not terrible. But he’s doing it because he’s being paid for a service first and foremost.

(Mainly it was a sarky comment about the generic transparency of the PR-speak though.)

I think he only did the main theme for Modern Warfare 2, so I think I’ll let that one slide.
But before recently, I think from Dark Knight onwards, he just tended to do fairly generic stuff. In his newer music he’s started to do more interesting things; or maybe that’s just for Chris Nolan films.

As bobsy notes, Mr. Zimmer has made music for everything ever. Most of it, since as far back as I can remember, tends to be fairly generic, but that may be a consequence of pretty much every other soundtrack in a summer blockbuster being made by him.

He does have some pretty exceptional works here and there, but John Williams he ain’t

I’d say it’s more of a BWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM but that’s my opinion.
Have to say, seeing that headline made my heart skip a beat. Had no idea he’d worked on any video games, but I look forward to hearing his influence.

I think my girlfriend may have just dumped me, I’m not entirely sure – you see I was on the phone with her as I was reading this, and discovered that button.

Which obviously and inevitably resulted in me spamming it at her every time she began to speak.
A few minutes of this and she hung up, I then sent her a voice mail of me spamming that button repeatedly…

I’m 28 years old – I am a mature, sensible chap – but even I could not resist that button.
So if I have indeed ended a relationship tonight, I blame you RPS, I blame you!

From the wording of those quotations, I suspect that Remote Control Productions (Zimmer’s music company) is working on it rather than Zimmer specifically. Which is still good, but it’s hardly like Zimmer himself is going to be doing much…

Aye, good soundtracks, but as I spammed up above Gladiator was a combination of Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, formerly of Dead Can Dance, the best thing to come from the 4AD label.
Also if publishers are after these big name composers for their manshoots, why no Ennio Morricone love, or better yet a Danny Elfman manshoot?

It’s quite unlikely Zimmer wrote a single note of Crysis 2’s music, stuff like this would get passed off to one of his underlings (who are probably exceptionally talented people, just not the man himself) for thematic development and then those simple themes sent on to Crytek’s music bods who actually produce a score. Zimmer’s only involvement then being branding. Waste of money imo, there are literally hundreds of commercial composers who can accurately pastiche Zimmer’s hollywood style for a fraction of the cost.

I kinda agree, I know some video game composers, and there is a slight dis-trust of big name hollywood composers coming in, taking their work and getting paid a ton more, and worse composing for film and games are very different skills.

Personally I want to see some good game composers do some film work, but hollywood still looks down on the games industry in many ways.

Crytek: We have Hans Zimmer doing our OST! he’s pretty cool guy and lots of people know him know from that popular inception movie.
EA: Hey, guys that do our marketing, could you do an ad for Crysis 2, try not to gimmick it up like Dead Space 2, we don’t think that went over too well.
Marketers: What song should we use
Crytek: well, our game is really set in new your and we-
Marketers: Something that says “New York!”
Marketers: Like that Sinatra song? kids these days wouldn’t get it.
Crytek: We have Hans Zimmer. he di-
Marketers: Let’s get BoB’s brand new quasi-cover, that’ll go well (BROTIP: It’s actually awful, compared to dubbing almost anything else over the ad, from Sinatra to Kayne, even a COD:BO ad)
Crytek: -oh. I guess we’ll get back to working on DX11 and stuff.